"Pieces of the Island"-An English Translation

Alcibiades Aguilera Martinez

The following article was written and made public by Alexei Jimenez Almarales, an independent journalist from Holguin, and is about the increase in level of repression and vigilance of dissidents and their families in that same province:

In Holguin, dissident families are under constant vigilance

Every Sunday morning is an entire odyssey for two families of dissidents- whom are devout methodists- in the city of Holguin.

This is the reality of the two families composed by: Ania Isabel Martinez Perdomo, her husband Alexis Aguilera Ramos, and their two children Yazmin and Alcibiades Aguilera Martinez, and Yuri Miguel Carralero Vazquez, his wife Yuliet Pernas Oropesa, their daughter Melissa Carralero Pernas, his mother-in-law Carmen Oropesa Ramirez, and his brother-in-law Eugenio Molina Oropesa. They see their weekends become a ‘witch-hunt’ of sorts, despite that for them Sundays are days of worship which belong to the Lord.

On December 9th, 2012, the same thing happened in the Methodist Holguin Central Church when these families were amid a moment of worship, and another State Security agent arrived on his motorcycle, parked and entered the temple, trying to blend in with the congregation. These dissidents face these situations time and time again. Despite being persecuted, they continue carrying out their work within the peaceful opposition, but they also express fear for the repression against their relatives.

Ania Isabel declared: “we know that we cannot ask our persecutors to stop spying on our children, but we are publicly denouncing the fear which these agents are intending to instil in us as parents”.

Images of vigilance such as these- in front of the Methodist Church of Holguin- occurr with far too much frequency